Cassandra - yeah, she got shot, again! Maybe at her next job (wherever and whenever that may be) I might be nice, and allow her to go a day without acquiring a new scar.So you noticed the hands...? Hmmm, maybe I'll write something a little fluffy?
Daynaa - don't worry, things will all be resolved with Sara, but not until Cheryl is back at work!
Grissom pursed his lips, before finally speaking, 'get better. I expect to see you in the lab, as soon as the doctor gives you the all clear. I will have words with Sara. That was out of order. And I don't think I will need to call Lieutenant Caine.' He told her, 'and I see no reason why this should have to be brought up again.' He added, more to the rest of the group, than to her. He glanced at Catherine before leaving the room.
Catherine watched him go, and then looked over at Cheryl. She still had tears streaming down her face. She sighed and marched over to the bed, collecting the papers that had been left there, 'well,' she said, breaking the awkward silence, 'there's no need for these,' she told no-one in particular, before screwing them up and throwing them in the trash can. She glanced at the others before her gaze settled on Warrick.
The two looked at each other, seemingly reading each other's mind, 'we should go, Cath, we need to finish up some paperwork,' he told her and the room.
Cheryl was thankful. She knew they hadn't been working the same case, but she just needed some time to herself.
'If you need anything, just call me,' said Catherine, 'anything at all.'
'We'll be back to check on you later,' added Warrick, 'so get some rest.'
Cheryl nodded, without catching her eye, and waited for the two to leave. Finally, it was just her, Greg and Nick left.
Greg stood watching her. Short of telling Sara to leave, he hadn't moved a muscle whilst Cheryl had been talking. He looked over at Nick, who was still holding onto Cheryl's hand, although it seemed more like it was she who was clutching at his hand. Nick stared back, and like Catherine and Warrick, silently agreed it was time for them to leave. Greg looked back at Cheryl. He was sure that the two of them would become really good friends, and there was no way he was going to let someone who had spoken back to Grissom disappear easily. Right now though, it seemed like the best thing to do would be to give her some space. 'I should go too,' he told her, 'I think Ecklie wants me to do some overtime in DNA.'
Cheryl raised her eyes to look at him, not sure what to expect. He smiled at her, 'I'll be back. We need to discuss ways in which we can wind up Grissom,' he told her, winking. She smiled back at him, and taking it as a sign that she would be alright, left the room.
Nick glanced down at the small hand which was encased in his, wondering what to say. Unable to find the words, he gave it a small squeeze before releasing it and getting up. He was about to walk out of the door when he looked back. Cheryl had brought her knees up, and wrapped her arms around her legs, but what almost caused him to cry out was the fact that her body was shuddering in great, silent sobs.
All thoughts of leaving, and all insecurities he had about what to do were gone. He was back by her bed in three large strides, and had nudged her over, minding her bandages, so that he was sat beside her, and then he wrapped his arms around her. Cheryl froze for the briefest of moments before turning into him and sobbing openly into his chest. He just sat there, holding her, and stroking her hair.
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When Cheryl awoke the following morning, she didn't open her eyes straight away. Instead she allowed herself to wake up first before opening her eyes to the harsh light of the hospital room. She felt warm and safe. Slowly, she realised that the reason she felt so safe was because there was an arm wrapped around her, and she herself had her arms wrapped someone's torso. She slowly peaked her eyes open and looked up. They were met by a pair of brown eyes peaking out at her from underneath a mane of equally brown hair. 'What time is it?' She asked him, groggily, as she slowly pulled herself to a sitting position, wincing at the pain from underneath her bandage.
Nick got out from underneath her and poured her a glass of water, 'around 8,' he told her, as he handed the water.
'I feel like I slept longer than a few hours,' she told him after she had taken a couple of sips of water.
Nick cocked his head, '8am,' he corrected her.
'8am!' She exclaimed, nearly dropping her water. 'How long was I asleep for?'
'15 hours and,' he glanced at his watch, 'about 20 minutes.'
Cheryl's mouth dropped open, '15 hours? You stayed all that time? Why didn't you get kicked out? Why didn't you just leave?'
Nick smiled, 'the nurses didn't realise I was still here until about 2am when they came in to check your blood pressure. You were sleeping soundly, and I guess they didn't want to disturb you. That's why I didn't leave, anyway. I'd already been there for nine hours anyway.' He told her, as he eased himself into the chair next to the bed.
Cheryl frowned, 'did you actually get any sleep?'
'A couple of hours – not much.'
'Oh, Nick, I'm so sorry. You should have just left.'
'Hey,' he told her, 'you know as well as I do, that us CSIs can cope on very little sleep. I've done longer, in more uncomfortable positions. Besides,' he added, his eyes twinkling at her, 'if I sleep with a girl, I don't get up and run out halfway through the night.'
Cheryl smiled and looked down at the sheets, 'thank you.'
'No worries. If nothing else, I learnt a very valuable lesson.' Cheryl looked up at him, 'for future reference,' he continued, 'you hog sheets.'
'Well,' said Cheryl, as she broke out into a grin, 'they were my sheets.'
'So that's how you play is it? I'll remember that.'
'Whatever are you trying to imply, Nicholas?' She asked him, before starting to laugh. Nick stared at her, before joining her in the laughter.
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By mid-morning, Cheryl and Nick had been joined by Greg, who had returned accompanied by a box underneath each arm.
'Are you moving in too?' She asked him, as he placed the boxes down on the end of the bed.
'I don't think so,' he told her, 'you strike me as someone who snores.'
Nick chuckled, 'she doesn't snore. But you'd get cold – she hogs the covers.'
Greg raised his eyebrows, 'so you show me your underwear, but you share a bed with him? Where are your loyalties, Cheryl?'
Cheryl shrugged at him, 'at this moment in time, I would have to say they escaped from this bullet hole in me. I'll get back to you when I've managed to relocate them. So, what've you got in the box?'
'Ah, well, I have some very important things which I know you will surely perish without,' he told her, before removing several items from the larger of the box. 'We have a coffee maker, complete with my favourite brew, which,' he continued, before Cheryl could voice the comment she had opened her mouth to say, 'I will make you a drinker of as you are trapped here, for a few days at least, and have nowhere to run to. I also have a Playstation 2, complete with several games, including theGran Turismos. Now, I realise that it's not the same as driving your own cars, but as you can't drive you'll have to make do. I also have some of my personal, favourite CDs for you to listen to, courtesy of the PS2, and a few DVDs as well.'
'Jeeze, Greggo, one of you is enough,' muttered Nick, 'we don't need you creating a female version of you as well.'
'Ah, but Nick, I think that's where you're wrong. I think she already is a female version of me. In fact, she's a better version of me – she spoke back to Grissom.'
'Sorry to break it to you, Nick,' said Cheryl, glancing over the CDs, games and DVDs that were sat in her lap, 'but I have all of this you see before me, anyway.'
Greg laughed, 'see, I told you. Now all I need to do is make her a coffee addict.'
Nick groaned, 'she's supposed to be resting, not staying up all night playing games, hooked on coffee.' He shook his head, 'a female Greg in the lab. Oh lord. Perhaps I should call Grissom and warn him.'
'Warn him? He'll be thrilled!' Exclaimed Greg.
Nick raised an eyebrow at him.
'You know what,' said Greg, 'I think I'll take this back with me,' he told them, packing the coffee maker back into the box, along with the coffee.
Cheryl burst out laughing, 'no wonder he looked so worried when he asked me if we were related. What's in the other box?'
Greg finished putting the coffee maker back in the box, and then turned his attention to the other box. 'The most important thing.' The box quacked.
'Eddie!'
Greg grinned and lifted the restless gosling from out of the other box, placing him on the foot of the bed. The gosling waddled straight over to Cheryl, poking her in the arm with his beak, before curling up in her lap and falling asleep. 'Lazy duck,' Cheryl muttered, stroking the gosling's soft feathers. 'Thanks, Greg.'
'No worries,' he told her.
There was a knock at the door, and in it came a man with a large box, 'Cheryl Carter?'
'That's me,' Cheryl told him. The man walked over and handed the box over to Nick, before giving some paperwork to Cheryl.
'Sign here,' he told her. Cheryl did as requested and as soon as she had, he handed over a large envelope. He took the clipboard back from her and left the room.
Cheryl glanced from the envelope, to the box, then back to the envelope, frowning.
'Are you going to open them, or are you just going to stare at them all day?' Greg asked her impatiently, hopping on the bed by her knees, bringing his legs up underneath him as he crossed his legs.
Cheryl ripped open the envelope and pulled out several sheets of paper of folded paper, she unfolded them and glanced at the top one, recognising the curved handwriting instantly:
'Happy birthday, Cheryl. I hope Las Vegas is everything you wanted it to be, and you are settling in nicely, especially into the new house. If you need anything at all, you know where I am. And on that note, you also know where I am when you decide to return my sunglasses. Take care, don't speed, and don't get shot.
All my love, Horatio
PS. The present. Again that was all Eric's doing. You have been warned.'
Cheryl laughed, 'he clearly wrote that one before I got here.' She told her friends as she turned her attention to the next piece of paper.
'Cheryl,' the curved writing read, 'Happy birthday! You'd best come visit soon so I can have a girly catch-up with you! If they're still there, I worked with some of your new colleagues once. They seem like good people. But they're not us. The sooner you realise this, the better – so come back. Short of Alexx, who, as you know, is busy in the morgue, all I have for company is a bunch of men. The testosterone levels – I'm telling you, if I breathe it in for much longer, the next time you see me, I'll be a man! Seriously though, I hope you are fine, and arrived safely – without speeding – you know Horatio will find out. And for God's sake – don't get shot!
Love you lots, Calleigh, xx
Cheryl laughed again before turning to the next letter, 'Cheryl, sweetie, happy birthday. I hope you are alive and well, without any new bullet marks on you. Things are slightly different around here. I still expect to see you when I get called out to a dead body, but instead, I'm greeted by your replacement. And although he's a sweetie too, he's not you. For starters, he doesn't get on with Eric, or Timmy, for that matter. And he was plucked out of the PD, so he's not experienced either. Sorry, baby, I'm finding all his faults – I guess I'm hoping you'll realise that the Sunshine State is better suited to you. The children say hi, and they hope that Eddie is alright – so far, despite their pleading, I haven't caved in and gotten them a gosling too, but it's Christmas in a few months, so perhaps Santa will bring them one.
Take care, Cheryl, and watch out for those bullets. Don't forget to show those Vegas CSIs what Miami can produce.'
Cheryl turned to the final piece of paper, frowning momentarily – it was from Eric. She was still hoping that, especially after their goodbye, that Tim would have at least sent something. She sighed and read the final note, 'Cheryl! Ha ha, it's you're birthday! You're getting old now… Damnit, that means I'm getting older. Ah well, at least I'm not as old as H! Well, H found a replacement for you. I don't like him. He's not you. Although, as he keeps telling me, he knows you – Ryan Wolfe? Well so what if he knows you! I know you too, and I knew you first. And it's not going to make me like him anymore. Speed doesn't like him either. He's not said so, but I can tell – simply, he's not you. If nothing else, you were easy on the eye!
'So, as I'm writing this, you've been gone a whole two days. Firstly, in response to what you are thinking – I don't care if two days is not a reasonable amount of time to decided whether you like someone or not. Now that we've gotten past that… you've been gone two days. I have been talking to everyone, getting them to write you a letter, (Dan and Valera say hi, by the way… so does Wolfe.) so that I can sort something out so that you can open something on your birthday. All I ask in return, is that you name your first-born after me… nah, I can't ask that. You're doing that anyway!
Everyone gave me something back, including Horatio, which surprised me, as I didn't think he would. Everyone except Speed, that is. Sorry about that. I think he tried, but in his defence, what do you say to the woman you love, that you stupidly let walk out of your life? He does miss you, you know!
The last time I checked, Horatio hadn't noticed his shades were missing. But then again, he seems to have several pairs, so it may take a while. That's why you should come back – there are many more shades to hide. And a newbie to wind up. I got him with the long stand prank – 2 hours in the trace lab, and the left handed biro one (thanks for that). In your words, he's a muppet. Having said that, he did manage to make it through his first day without getting shot… unfortunately! Speaking of which, you had better have managed to have done the same thing.
Hey, look at that, I managed to write you a small essay – I don't think I've ever willingly written that much. See, you're missed.
Look after yourself, kid. Remember, we did buy you a vest, so there is no need for you to continue to be such a bullet magnet! Eric.
PS. Now, I sent these letters to a store out in Vegas with specific instructions to deliver these letters with your present. Hopefully, they aren't stupid and didn't put the present in the box until the last minute. That being said, you should open it quickly.'
Cheryl put the letters down, and glanced warily at the box. So the present was Eric's idea? Unfortunately, she knew what Eric was like.
'Cheryl, I don't know what your friend Eric ordered,' said Nick, who was staring uneasily at the box, 'but I think it's moving.'
Yuppers, guys... just one more chapter left :D